Jury still out in suit against Sheriff's Office

Jurors hearing the wrongful death suit against the Marion County Sheriff's Office and two of its deputies deliberated for about an hour and a half Thursday afternoon before breaking for the evening.

By April WarrenStaff writer

Jurors hearing the wrongful death suit against the Marion County Sheriff's Office and two of its deputies deliberated for about an hour and a half Thursday afternoon before breaking for the evening.The eight-member panel is expected to continue its work beginning at 8:30 a.m. Friday.Prior to the deliberations, which began at 3:55 p.m., much of Thursday was taken up with closing arguments as all sides tried to reduce a week's testimony into brief persuasive arguments."We are here because Lauren Miley and Norman Brown violated directives of the Marion County Sheriff's Office, which caused Joshua Salvato's death," said plaintiff attorney Antonio Romanucci.Salvato, 21, died July 6, 2012, after a physical altercation with deputies Miley and Brown, which ended when Miley shot Salvato in the stomach and Brown used a stun gun on the young man repeatedly. Salvato died shortly after the altercation, which occurred on a darkened stretch of Sunset Harbor Road in Summerfield.The plaintiff is suing for up to $39 million in damages and funeral expenses, claiming the deputies used excessive and unreasonable force, which caused Salvato's death and violated his constitutional rights.The heart of the case circles around a dashcam video taken from inside Brown's patrol car as he arrived on the scene to assist Miley, who was at the scene in response to calls about a young man causing a scene on the side of the road.The defense and plaintiffs disagree as to whether Salvato matched the description of the suspect.While the video shows Salvato first on the ground and then pulling away from deputies as they try to handcuff him, he eventually moves out of the camera's screen, where he is shot and hit with the stun gun.The plaintiffs argued that during this time, Salvato is backing away from Miley when she shoots him and that he is on the ground and handcuffed while Brown is using his stun gun.Romanucci accused Miley of lying to investigators about what happened off camera."She had to lie in order to save her job and not face criminal charges," Romanucci said.He said the best witness for an officer in this situation is a dead witness.The defense disputed this claim and argued that an expert in the case pointed to where the bullet penetrated Salvato's body as evidence that Salvato was squared up and possibly ready to attack Miley once again after Brown fell to the ground when he was struck by Salvato.In their rebuttal, the plaintiffs demonstrated how a person moving backward might also square up their chest.Miley's attorney Walter Ketcham Jr. pointed to the fact that Salvato eluded arrest by sprinting away from deputies and said that at that point the concept of flight or fight would have set in. Since Salvato was still at the scene, it is logical Miley would have thought he would come back to harm her, he said.The plaintiffs told the jury that Salvato has no prior criminal history, was not wielding a weapon and was likely scared of the officers, though they acknowledged that his behavior was far from exemplary.But the defense told the jury that Miley was also fearful that Salvato would once again attack and she could not be certain he did not possess a weapon."How can they say what's good for the goose is not good for the gander?" asked Ketcham in his closing argument. "The whole issue is whether she had reasonable cause to shoot him."Bruce Bogan, the attorney for Brown, said aspects of the plaintiffs' case were a red herring, hoping to take the eight-member jury in another direction and ignore the bigger issue of Salvato's failure to comply with law enforcement."If you're scared, you don't attack a police officer two times," he said.Bogan also pointed to evidence that the bullet caused the death and that his client's use of a stun gun would not have changed the fact that the gunshot severed an artery and caused Salvato to bleed profusely.Romanucci called the repeated stun gun use brutality."Norman Brown punished Joshua Salvato," he told jurors. "You send that message right back that this is not tolerated in society."In his closing argument on behalf of the Sheriff's Office, attorney John Green Jr. acknowledged the luxury of hindsight, which was not awarded to the deputies during the quickly escalating incident. He also briefly mentioned the toll the incident took on deputies and sought to discredit Salvato by reminding the jury that he had dropped out of high school and had a shoddy employment history.In 2012, a grand jury reviewed the case and did not indict the two deputies. The panel issued a report that pointed out lessons and recommendations for the Sheriff's Office, including increased training hours.Contact April Warren at 867-4065 or april.warren@ocala.com.